Latest blast of blown out, super fierce and fiery free jazz pummel from this Italian duo, whose last tour cd-r was a huge hit around here, and whose surprisingly hushed and minimal instore was pretty fantastic. But for those of you who lucked out and snagged one of those cd-r's or saw the duo perform live when they were in SF, you know what you're in for, two sides, two tracks brimming with nonstop, relentless, frantic, frenetic, explosive super rhythmic, wildly tangled and super psychedelic next level free jazz freakout. The drums never let up, laying down a super textured avalanche of rhythmic shuffle and skitter and pound, a non stop drum solo, that manages to be totally free, yet somehow strangely rhythmic, but it's the sax and clarinet, wielded by Virginia Genta, that drives these jams, the sounds she gets out of her horns are inhuman, alien, free jazz may skronk and squeal, but this stuff SHRIEKS and GRINDS and is just a face peeling onslaught of strangled notes, atonal melodies and wild high end squiggles. There are bits of extra percussion, some vocals, even a little blast of harmonica (?), but this is definitely hardcore free jazz that will send anyone with any sort of aversion to skronk and squeal and shriek running for the hills. The rest of us can just revel in Jooklo Duo's divine jazz chaos.
Another incredible jazz artifact rescued from the abyss by the fine folks at Porter, this one comes courtesy of the enigmatic Juma Sultan, and his ever shifting musical collective The Aboriginal Music Society, who over the course of the sixties and seventies recorded literally THOUSANDS of hours of music, the group's sound as constantly in flux as its lineup, the sound a dizzying mix of Afro / spiritual / free jazz, even soul and RnB, all of which is covered here, this handful of tracks handpicked by Sultan, chronicling the groups' expansive body of work, beginning with the near 21 minute "AMS", which manages to capture the free sonic spirit of the group in a single, track, beginning with a dense rhythmic workout, that definitely foreshadows groups like No Neck Blues Band, Avarus and Sunburned Hand Of The Man, before slipping into a woozy, bass and piano driven groove, the bass warped and warbly, the piano lush and melancholic, until in swoop some soulful horns, the vibe very laid back and groovy, before transforming once again into a serious post-bop final movement, the drums growing more chaotic and propulsive, the piano wild and loose, the sound growing more and more free with out losing any of its soul or melody.
"Shake Your Money Maker" is all drums and percussion, fluttering flute and call and response vocals, a total drum and fife style jam, before slipping into the VERY funky "Darn My Socks", with some James Brown style vox, a funky-drummer beat, super raw and lo-fi, wah guitar and extra percussion adding to the songs fierce groove.
The rest of the record is split between two, two-part jams, "Sundance And The Hand Clapping", which is darkly groovy, with whirring organs, dense flurries of piano, and a driving metronomic beat, the second part letting loose with lots of flute, draped over groovy percussion, while "She Made Me Feel Like Glory" unfurls as a seriously heady chunk of spiritual jazz, all droned out and Eastern, hazy and hypnotic, bells and percussion, over slow smoldering grooves, culminating in the second part / final track, which adds vocals, and slowly builds from spare call and response vocal driven soulful jazz, to something much more loose and abstract, a final sprawl of explosive and prismatic ur-drone raga jazz blissout. AWESOME.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Ex-Bay-Areans and/or veterans of Zorn's West Coast Masada quartet -- Ben Goldberg, Kenny Wollesen and John Schott -- plus Mr. Bungle's Trevor Dunn on bass.
Kaiser and Smith join together to pay tribute to Miles Davis' electric '73-'75 period, joined by The Rova Sax Quartet, Nels Cline, Elliot Sharp, John Medeski, Lukas Ligeti, Oluyemi Thomas and many others...
Another outing of hazy, jazz-dappled beauty from this instrumental German collective, I mean, kollektief, who are long-time AQ faves. Burbling drones, noirish atmospheres, electronic beats, lush melody, sampling and improv all combine on this gorgeous fifth album of theirs, Absencen. They've been compared (by us and others) to everyone from Fridge to Mum to AMM to Miles Davis... we're not gonna add any new names to that illustrious list for this review, rather we'd like to make the point that not only do they deserve such comparisons, Kammerflimmer now have pretty much established themselves as a standard for others to be compared against -- anyone who makes lovely, densely woven, textural soundscapey instrumentals that fall somewhere betwixt post-rock, jazz and electronica should be glad to be told they sound a bit like the Kammerflimmer Kollektief!
Violinist, improviser, experimental composer Eyvind Kang (best known for his appearances with the Sun City Girls as well as a host of other collaborations with such musicians as Ikue Mori, Marc Ribot, Bill Frisell, and others) returns with another of his fascinating, weird, and impressive solo albums. With a large cast of additional musicians, Kang creates an epic soundscape here.
The first 5 tracks comprising "The Story of Iceland" are a pastoral mixture of weeping violin, arpeggiated marimbas, and earnest tubas. The 6th track is ten minutes of tortured David Bowie-style vocals with layer upon layer of chanting female harmonies -- lovely. And the album ends with a short gamelan song. Very shcizophrenic, nice album. Recommended.
Downtown NYC alto sax player Ori Kaplan combines international (Israeli, North African, Arabic) influences with both avant and trad jazz composition/improvisation, with the help of pianist Andrew Bernkey, and percussionists Geoff Mann and the wonderful
The concept here is as straightforward as the title, though it might require some explaining for the average Westerner. Kazutoki Umezu is a Japanese jazz saxophone improviser, perhaps best known to us for his collaborations with Ruins. He also had a disc on the Knitting Factory label a long time ago. Enka is kind of the Japanese cultural equivalent of American country or blues music, a traditional song style much beloved by the quote-unquote common folk, songs about life and love from a proletarian perspective. It's not normally intended for instrumental, jazz-inflected saxophone performance, but the talented "Doctor" Umezu takes enka and makes it his own, delivering emotional, intricate, and sometimes quite energetic interpretations of 14 enka standards as solos on alto and soprano sax, also clarinet and bass-clarinet.
Minor key, melancholic, and so very melodic, this is a quite beautiful synthesis of Umezu's Japanese roots with his "foreign" love for jazz (hardly foreign in Japan, of course, which is home to a happenin' jazz scene). The unavoidably "lonely" cry of Umezu's unaccompanied reeds well evokes the mood we expect enka often conveys. We're not exactly jazz experts, so probably many better comparisons could be made, but this reminds us a bit of the work of the late great Albert Ayler, due to Ayler's penchant for the use of folk motifs in his free jazz compositions. Recommended to anyone into sax solos for sure, especially sad ones.
While this doesn't boast a special die-cut cover like that Sim+Otomo disc we highlighted last list, it's still housed in quite a handsome looking digipack as is always the case due to Doubtmusic label's tasteful packaging aesthetic. The inner sleeve includes English language liner notes all about enka to help listeners understand what Umezu is up to here, giving a bit of context that the lack of lyrics may or may not leave necessary.
This classic album from 1971 has been lovingly reissued by Tompkins Square. Released originally on the LA-based Black Jazz label, Shawn-Neeq was soul-jazz guitarist Calvin Keys debut release after years being a member and session player in several famous jazz combos with the likes of Jimmy Smith, Richard "Groove" Holmes, and Jack McDuff.
Shawn-Neeq begins with the cosmic opening herald of "B.E." before launching into an understated groove backed by Fender Rhodes, bass, and flutes, some low-key horns, but the main space is left open for Key's travelling guitar lines that explore wildly while still keeping it all glued together. The title track delves into a softer focus of pretty balladry with lyrical flute and Rhodes keeping the momentum. The eight minute "Gee-Gee" brings a funkier vibe back into play and is probably our favorite track. Though it's hard to beat the closer, "B.K." which has a harder funk vibe and distorted Rhodes again that give the song a more acid-y psychedelic feel. This is an excellent slice of empowered soul jazz and we're psyched to see it available on vinyl once again! Recommended!
Calvin Keys lives in Oakland these days and we've heard he's playing out again in support of this reissue, unfortunately we missed his show at Yoshi's but hope to see him soon.
Whatever you do, don't let the godawful cover art fool you. This is not some crappy new age cd you'd buy in an art gallery in New Mexico, while picking up some healing crystals. This is some seriously demented, gloriously inspired outsider free jazz abstract psychedelic dub tribal weirdness. You'd never know from the cover though. A super cheesy crayon drawing of the band beneath some pyramids... ugh. Inside there's a bad ass photo of the band, killer afros, leather jackets, cravat, one guy holding a flute, leaning against a wall, looking ready to unleash some seriously cosmic musical might. Had that picture been on the cover you'd know exactly what you were getting into. Cuz this is indeed some seriously cosmic shit.
Released originally in 1973 in a run of 300 copies, this disc by vibraphonist Khan Jamal has become a jazz head free music freak holy grail. And it's easy to see why. A heady mix of vibes, marimba, clarinet, drums, glockenspiel, guitar, bass and percussion. But it's all about the drums. These four lengthy tracks are all about rhythm. If the opener doesn't totally blow your mind, there is something seriously wrong. A completely effect drenched burst of free jazz drum splatter, careening and echoing all over the place, horns bleating, reverberating into infinity, adding more tripped out percussive swirl to the already chaotic soundfield. Eventually the drums drift off, and the track morphs into some dizzying glockenspiel marimba jam, all tinkle and shimmer, still drifting in swirls of FX and random clatter. This track alone makes this disc essential. But it's only the beginning.
The second track is like a supercharged, blown out, extended version of the opener, just with more horns and a more obvious rhythm. A groovy free jazz drum jam, beneath skronking horns, shouting and hand clapping, reverb drenched horns, a total wild and wooly free for all, before the marimba comes in, and things coalesce into a slightly less abstract funky free jazz percussion blow out. So good.
Track three is the most subtle of the bunch, but that in no way means it's any less weird or tripped out. A droney bass line, some jazzy smokey guitar, all beneath a dense swirl of percussive shakers, wrapped in tons of FX, a sort of dubbed out ambient jazz. A slow mellow groove that sort of drifts and slithers, occasionally bits of freaky effects float by, but for the most part it's all late night mellowness, a slow stroll through a moonlit alley, or hold up in the dark corner of some alien jazz bar.
The final track takes the smokey moonlit ambience of track three and gives it the King Tubby treatment, Sounds are dubbed to kingdom come, melodies become distorted and crumble into pieces before they're sent careening into the ether, drums shuffle and stutter, occasionally being propelled dubwise, the whole thing sounding like some Wes Montgomery b-side produced by Lee Perry. A supreme, super laid back dub drenched free jazz freakout of the highest order.
In fact this whole disc is some sort of cosmic dub drenched free jazz from beyond. Some seriously Sun Ra meets King Tubby in the great hereafter shit. A divine jam session transmitted through some mysterious sound system and captured on tape.
Totally and completely mindblowing.
The minute we threw this one, we were totally captivated. The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble are a gloriously creepy crawly mutant jazz combo, equal parts DJ Shadow's Endtroducing, seventies horror movie soundtracks, late night jazz and super sluggish blown out trip hop. The KDJE originally formed to create live soundtracks for films by FM Murnau, Fritz Lang and the like, taking their inspiration from such unlikely sources as animators the Quay Brothers and artists Bosch, Picasso and Goya and boy does it show. A full on group, not one dude and his laptop, the KDJE unfurl haunting imaginary soundtracks, dark and dense, smoky and noir, everything in rich lustrous shades of black and grey, shuffling jazzy skitter underpins melancholy moaning horns bathed in reverb, pizzicato strings and minor key guitars hover and dart furtively, a drizzly rainy day jazz dirge, so creepy and mysterious and lovely, and that's just the first song. The rest of the record wanders similarly rainslicked streets, hat pulled down low, collar pulled way up, face obscured by shadows, the wet streets reflecting the orange grey glow of the streetlights, the buildings like totem poles of shadowy ghosts, the sky a blackish grey, turning the vibrant city into a lonely monochrome. This record is just so ominous and foreboding, so emotionally charged, so haunting and murky, imagine DJ Shadow collaborating with Tricky, mix in plenty of Raymond Chandler some dingy bars, some laid back jazz, some doomy dark ambience, some muted Boards Of Canada shuffle and thump, the whole thing drenched in late night ambience and warm warped M83 style whir and you'll have a rough idea. The ultimate soundtrack for late night lonely walks through the city.
Along with the "irrational happiness" in this album's title there are also flashes of madness and brilliance throughout the proceedings. Bringing together free roaming avant jazz with elements of tiki exotica, psychedelia, post rock and so much more, the new Bay Area combo known as Kipple craft a loose, open musical weave that's often quite reminiscent of awesome fellow SF artists such as pop collagists Milk Cult and the uncategorizable keyboardist Graham Connah. Keeps you on your toes, and keeps those toes a-tapping thanks to a creative and tight rhythm section. Moodily captivating. Recommended.
Another weird and wonderful installment in the fascinating and varied history of this lost musical visionary. Many of you avant garde types will no doubt recognize Kirchin's name from the infamous Nurse With Wound list of favorite and influential experimental recordings. But over the last few years, UK label Trunk has been releasing more and more lost bits of Kirchin's wild musical past and so far it's all been totally fascinating and compelling listening. Abstractions opens with eleven tracks, the Abstractions of the Industrial North recording proper. Dreamy and pastoral, cinematic and light and airy. Quite lovely and not even remotely avant garde or freaked out. Things get weirder with the nine bonus tracks, all cues from rare musical library ten inch records. Freaked out, acid tinged prog, mixed with groovy Euro soundtrack music, horns and organs, chimes and vibes, bombastic percussion and psych rock guitars all woven into what could be the clost soundtrack to the coolest spy thriller you've never seen. Smooth and groovy, with just enough weird stuff going on to keep it interesting. Pay close attention to track 18, "Pageing Sullivan", a burbling, psychedelic soundtrack jaunt through India via Paris, or something, but on the guitar you'll find a pre-Led Zeppelin Jimmy Page! And as always, super informative and interesting liner notes!
If this keeps up Basil Kirchin could become the underground avant garde Tupac. The only problem is that Kirchin is still alive. After years of complete silence and a series of recording either impossible to find and hear or unreleased, seems that the floodgates have opened and reissue after reissue come tuumbling forth. We're not complaining though, as everything we've heard so far has been pretty amazing. For those of you new to Kirchin, this composer / arranger / musician, is probably best known in underground circles for being namechecked on that legendary Nurse With Wound list that came with their first record. This here cd is not a reissue, rather the first time these two mini albums have ever been released. The first three tracks, or 'Sketches' consist of rough ideas and works in progress that Kirchin composed and recorded before his legendary Quantum record (reviewed on the AQ list last year). These sketches are jazzy and dreamy, meldoic and almost traditional sounding, EXCEPT for the fact that the tinkling pianos and muted trumpets are competeting with a wild panoply of exotic bird calls, chirping and cheeping and occasionally shrieking. The second half of this disc, States Of Mind, is an unreleased soundtrack to a documentary about mental illness and features Evan Parker making one of his first appearances with his new 'free' style. Which is perfectly suited to the music. Dark and creepy, atonal and confusional, haunting and cinematic, swirling backdrops of manic piano, rumbling bass, and swirling horns with Parker's sax skronking atop it all. Really curious liner notes too, describing song by song, the different mental ailments related by the music. Weird.
The late great Basil Kirchin's final work, that was years in the making, is not always an easy listen. Finally realized after years of working with what he called "particles" of music (some recorded as early as the sixties) while his body was riddled with cancer, it's difficult to separate what is happening in the music from what was happening with the man. Book-ended by spirited pastoral compositions of the British jazz variety that we are accustomed to, most of the body of Particles falls into the realm of the atonally challenging. He even calls the main suite, "The Atonals". Even so, it would be unfair to casually dismiss this. One needs to understand Kirchin's process, a laborious attention to recording, editing and filtering that works through primarily conceptual guidelines rather than compositional ones. For instance, "The Atonals", subtitled, "The Secret Conversations Between Instruments", began as recordings of between-session banter with the musicians without their knowledge they were being recorded. Then these hours of tapes were edited into snippets of conversation until each had a clear line of its own, orchestrated together with other lines, then run through a series of processes that remove the words and the voice sounds and are replaced with sounds of instruments that fit closest to the original "voice". It may take a few listens to Particles to unleash its power, but it's a fitting and uncompromised finale of one of the most innovative experimental composers of our time.
It seems like time for a rant again. Don't worry, I'll make it short. Roland Kirk is God! Or at least as much a god as Mingus, Sun Ra, Davis or Coltrane. So here's your chance to see what you've been missing. And what the majority of jazz fans can't get their narrow heads around: soulful, jazzy, funky, groovy, funny, soul shaking, gut busting, tear jerking brilliance from this musical genius. Master of every instrument he picked up (as well as a handful he invented!), able to play three horns at once (not as a gimmick, as a way to play three melodies), blind since birth and later suffering paralysis from a stroke, wandering around NYC with a huge wheeled staff with various horns duct-taped to it as well as a portable tape recorder that he used to record the sounds of the world and would sometime incorporate into live performances, a brilliant and funny orater, telling jokes and stories, ranting and testifying, preaching and proclaiming, and once even handing out cocaine to folks in the crowd. This man was remarkable. Musically, socially, personally. Unclear why he tends to get overlooked, and underappreciated by the majority of jazz fans. Too weird I guess. But I know that won't bother you (speaking here to YOU, the erudite AQ list subscriber) !!!
So it's always a happy day, when some new Kirk gem is unearthed, or some classic Kirk record gets the re-release/remaster treatment. So kudos to Collectables for reissuing 7 essential and timeless Kirk masterpieces. Some terrible design ideas though: the cheesy Collectables logo, HUGE ADS taking up whole pages in the cd booklets, and the 'Collectables Jazz Classics' tag line pasted everywhere over the original art, making them look like those bargain collections you find at truckstops or drugstores. But it's all about the music right....
This legendary record originally released in 1972 features one of Kirk's most moving tunes ever, his sorrowful take on Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine", complete with soaring minor key strings and Kirk growling the lyrics through his flute! Mostly covers, this finds Kirk straddling the line between overt sentimentality, and more of that party/boppy/get-up-and-dance-dammit vibe. While some of the tunes here are tepid and sort of straight ahead, there are moments where Kirk slays, the aforementioned "Ain't No Sunshine", the testifying gospel tinged "Blacknuss", and an unlikely cover of Bread's "Make It With You"??
As we may have mentioned in a review or two or five, RAHSAAN ROLAND KIRK IS GOD!! We love us our Coltrane's and Ayler's and Sun Ra's sure, but Kirk holds a very special place in our heart. He's the ultimate outsider jazzbo, like the Moondog of jazz, blind since birth, later paralyzed from a stroke, could play sax, flute, you name it, eventually he even had to begin inventing his own instruments, often played three horns at once, an actual one man band, dressed in rags and carried around a huge wheeled staff with various musical instruments duct taped to it, was shunned for being a novelty act, live would spend half the set telling stories, interacting with the audience, playing back stuff he had recorded on his portable tape player, whooping, shouting, singing -- this man was possessed by jazz and exuded utter and absolute joy when he was playing. And the music reflected that, a dizzying mix of traditional and free, a complete disregard for genre, embracing bop, soul, gospel, whatever.
We can never get enough, and we're always excited when a new live record sees the light of day, because live, in front of an audience is where Kirk reigned supreme. This live set was recorded in Germany in 1972 and is a seriously aggressive, fiery and free set. Really intense and super kick ass. Kirk does his usual, depending on the track wielding the sax, the flute, the nose flute, the manzello, the stritch or the clarinet, sometimes more than one at a time. Not a whole lot of between song banter, but the songs speak volumes. A killer mix of Kirk classics, standards and some unlikely covers including a killer version of Bread's "Make It With You".
Really funny and bitter liner notes from long time Kirk confidante Joel Dorn, relaying a conversation between Dorn and his partner, talking shit about Dorn's always amusing liner notes, and how after years of ranting about Kirk's brilliance, he decided to just fuck the serious liner notes, since it isn't liner notes that would convince someone to dig Kirk, it's the music. And the music on Brotherman In The Fatherland should be enough to convince anyone.
It seems like time for a rant again. Don't worry, I'll make it short. Roland Kirk is God! Or at least as much a god as Mingus, Sun Ra, Davis or Coltrane. So here's your chance to see what you've been missing. And what the majority of jazz fans can't get their narrow heads around: soulful, jazzy, funky, groovy, funny, soul shaking, gut busting, tear jerking brilliance from this musical genius. Master of every instrument he picked up (as well as a handful he invented!), able to play three horns at once (not as a gimmick, as a way to play three melodies), blind since birth and later suffering paralysis from a stroke, wandering around NYC with a huge wheeled staff with various horns duct-taped to it as well as a portable tape recorder that he used to record the sounds of the world and would sometime incorporate into live performances, a brilliant and funny orater, telling jokes and stories, ranting and testifying, preaching and proclaiming, and once even handing out cocaine to folks in the crowd. This man was remarkable. Musically, socially, personally. Unclear why he tends to get overlooked, and underappreciated by the majority of jazz fans. Too weird I guess. But I know that won't bother you (speaking here to YOU, the erudite AQ list subscriber) !!!
So it's always a happy day, when some new Kirk gem is unearthed, or some classic Kirk record gets the re-release/remaster treatment. So kudos to Collectables for reissuing 7 essential and timeless Kirk masterpieces. Some terrible design ideas though: the cheesy Collectables logo, HUGE ADS taking up whole pages in the cd booklets, and the 'Collectables Jazz Classics' tag line pasted everywhere over the original art, making them look like those bargain collections you find at truckstops or drugstores. But it's all about the music right....
Left And Right (from 1969) starts off with a bizarre intro for bouncy cinematic string section and a ranting Roland Kirk as well as sound effects (breaking glass etc...).The record stays pretty far out with Expansions, the 20 minute, 9 part epic, sounding equal parts swinging sixties soundtrack, Morricone score, jazzy funereal dirge, and shrieking grandiose epic! The strings play a huge part on the rest of the record, fleshing out and gussying up some smooth dreamy, late night jazz workouts into gorgeous cinematic melancholia.
It seems like time for a rant again. Don't worry, I'll make it short. Roland Kirk is God! Or at least as much a god as Mingus, Sun Ra, Davis or Coltrane. So here's your chance to see what you've been missing. And what the majority of jazz fans can't get their narrow heads around: soulful, jazzy, funky, groovy, funny, soul shaking, gut busting, tear jerking brilliance from this musical genius. Master of every instrument he picked up (as well as a handful he invented!), able to play three horns at once (not as a gimmick, as a way to play three melodies), blind since birth and later suffering paralysis from a stroke, wandering around NYC with a huge wheeled staff with various horns duct-taped to it as well as a portable tape recorder that he used to record the sounds of the world and would sometime incorporate into live performances, a brilliant and funny orater, telling jokes and stories, ranting and testifying, preaching and proclaiming, and once even handing out cocaine to folks in the crowd. This man was remarkable. Musically, socially, personally. Unclear why he tends to get overlooked, and underappreciated by the majority of jazz fans. Too weird I guess. But I know that won't bother you (speaking here to YOU, the erudite AQ list subscriber) !!!
So it's always a happy day, when some new Kirk gem is unearthed, or some classic Kirk record gets the re-release/remaster treatment. So kudos to Collectables for reissuing 7 essential and timeless Kirk masterpieces. Some terrible design ideas though: the cheesy Collectables logo, HUGE ADS taking up whole pages in the cd booklets, and the 'Collectables Jazz Classics' tag line pasted everywhere over the original art, making them look like those bargain collections you find at truckstops or drugstores. But it's all about the music right....
Other Folks' Music (from 1976) starts out years ahead of its time, with a fuzzy distorted tape recording (think Godspeed) that slowly turns into a creepy crawly harmonica flecked scene setter worthy of any Morricone/Leone western. Worth it for that track alone. The rest of the record ranges from dreamy late night cocktail jazz, to really hard bop, to almost loungy exotica to timeless/classic Kirk nu-bop.
It seems like time for a rant again. Don't worry, I'll make it short. Roland Kirk is God! Or at least as much a god as Mingus, Sun Ra, Davis or Coltrane. So here's your chance to see what you've been missing. And what the majority of jazz fans can't get their narrow heads around: soulful, jazzy, funky, groovy, funny, soul shaking, gut busting, tear jerking brilliance from this musical genius. Master of every instrument he picked up (as well as a handful he invented!), able to play three horns at once (not as a gimmick, as a way to play three melodies), blind since birth and later suffering paralysis from a stroke, wandering around NYC with a huge wheeled staff with various horns duct-taped to it as well as a portable tape recorder that he used to record the sounds of the world and would sometime incorporate into live performances, a brilliant and funny orater, telling jokes and stories, ranting and testifying, preaching and proclaiming, and once even handing out cocaine to folks in the crowd. This man was remarkable. Musically, socially, personally. Unclear why he tends to get overlooked, and underappreciated by the majority of jazz fans. Too weird I guess. But I know that won't bother you (speaking here to YOU, the erudite AQ list subscriber) !!!
So it's always a happy day, when some new Kirk gem is unearthed, or some classic Kirk record gets the re-release/remaster treatment. So kudos to Collectables for reissuing 7 essential and timeless Kirk masterpieces. Some terrible design ideas though: the cheesy Collectables logo, HUGE ADS taking up whole pages in the cd booklets, and the 'Collectables Jazz Classics' tag line pasted everywhere over the original art, making them look like those bargain collections you find at truckstops or drugstores. But it's all about the music right....
1973's Prepare Thyself... album found Kirk mixing bop with cinematic soundscapes, bizarre vocalisations, bells and chimes and tribal percussion. The opening track is another barnstormer, totaly menacing and haunting, percussive and hypnotic. Why he was never hit up to score movies I'll never understand. The 10 minute Seasons was my introductionm to Roland Kirk, although the version I first heard was recorded live at the Montreux Jazz Festival documented on the live release Eye Aye I. A tripped out tribal intro gives way to summery fluttery flute improvisations. But the real attraction here is an epic 21 minute free jazz workout called "Saxophone Concerto", complete with ranting female testifying, Kirk and band swinging from bop to swing and bopping from swing to bop, often in the same passage. But the focal point is Kirk's endless, breathless, tenor sax, wailing and squealing and screeching for 20 minutes, until any normal man would have passed out. Or dropped dead.
A wonderful reissue.
It seems like time for a rant again. Don't worry, I'll make it short. Roland Kirk is God! Or at least as much a god as Mingus, Sun Ra, Davis or Coltrane. So here's your chance to see what you've been missing. And what the majority of jazz fans can't get their narrow heads around: soulful, jazzy, funky, groovy, funny, soul shaking, gut busting, tear jerking brilliance from this musical genius. Master of every instrument he picked up (as well as a handful he invented!), able to play three horns at once (not as a gimmick, as a way to play three melodies), blind since birth and later suffering paralysis from a stroke, wandering around NYC with a huge wheeled staff with various horns duct-taped to it as well as a portable tape recorder that he used to record the sounds of the world and would sometime incorporate into live performances, a brilliant and funny orater, telling jokes and stories, ranting and testifying, preaching and proclaiming, and once even handing out cocaine to folks in the crowd. This man was remarkable. Musically, socially, personally. Unclear why he tends to get overlooked, and underappreciated by the majority of jazz fans. Too weird I guess. But I know that won't bother you (speaking here to YOU, the erudite AQ list subscriber) !!!
So it's always a happy day, when some new Kirk gem is unearthed, or some classic Kirk record gets the re-release/remaster treatment. So kudos to Collectables for reissuing 7 essential and timeless Kirk masterpieces. Some terrible design ideas though: the cheesy Collectables logo, HUGE ADS taking up whole pages in the cd booklets, and the 'Collectables Jazz Classics' tag line pasted everywhere over the original art, making them look like those bargain collections you find at truckstops or drugstores. But it's all about the music right....
The main attraction here is the bizarre interludes between almost all of the songs. Whether it's a voice from beyond commanding Kirk to sleep, and Kirk explaining why he can no longer dream, to thundering horse hooves, ping pong, sampled TV music, strange ambient interludes, that same voice from beyond commanding Kirk to wake up and Kirk ranting right back, and then a 13 minute 'Side Four' featuring 10 minutes of silence, then all sorts of conversation, tape recorded howls, etc.... The actual music here (recorded in 1975) is classic Kirk, but with the unlikely inclusion of some surprisingly hard funk!!
Yet another in the long overdue series of reissues from the legendary and under appreciated Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Not only an amazing player, but also as bit a character and as completely nuts as Mingus, Sun Ra or any other jazz greats you can think of. Best Kirk anecdote ever:
"In the late 60s we were in the studio getting ready to mix one of his albums, He wouldn't let me start working with the tapes until I could 'do it like me'. I didn't know what he meant. He told me to sit down and close my eyes. He got behind the chair and started to wrap my head, mummy style, with masking tape, from the neck up. Enough room was left for me to breathe. When Rahsaan was convinced that I couldn't see, he held a gun to my head and said 'I just want you to know how I feel all the time'."
The liner notes have more amazing stories from Joel Dorn long time producer / pal to Kirk as well as tons of cool Kirk quotes. Not sure if this was ever an actual release, seems more like a collection of random tidbits, but it has everything: Kirk on clarinet (rarely recorded), saxophone, manzello, stritch, Kirk talking/joking with the audience (even does a dead on Miles Davis impersonation), slow smoldering blues, wild live shows with Kirk on clarinet and tenor (also a rarity), playing two and three horns at once...it's all great. Really fun to hear how wild and excited the crowd gets, whooping and hollering. Like being at a revival meeting! If you're new to Kirk, this is as good a place as any to start. And most of it's unreleased so even if you got it all, you need this. RRK is GOD!
It seems like time for a rant again. Don't worry, I'll make it short. Roland Kirk is God! Or at least as much a god as Mingus, Sun Ra, Davis or Coltrane. So here's your chance to see what you've been missing. And what the majority of jazz fans can't get their narrow heads around: soulful, jazzy, funky, groovy, funny, soul shaking, gut busting, tear jerking brilliance from this musical genius. Master of every instrument he picked up (as well as a handful he invented!), able to play three horns at once (not as a gimmick, as a way to play three melodies), blind since birth and later suffering paralysis from a stroke, wandering around NYC with a huge wheeled staff with various horns duct-taped to it as well as a portable tape recorder that he used to record the sounds of the world and would sometime incorporate into live performances, a brilliant and funny orater, telling jokes and stories, ranting and testifying, preaching and proclaiming, and once even handing out cocaine to folks in the crowd. This man was remarkable. Musically, socially, personally. Unclear why he tends to get overlooked, and underappreciated by the majority of jazz fans. Too weird I guess. But I know that won't bother you (speaking here to YOU, the erudite AQ list subscriber) !!!
So it's always a happy day, when some new Kirk gem is unearthed, or some classic Kirk record gets the re-release/remaster treatment. So kudos to Collectables for reissuing 7 essential and timeless Kirk masterpieces. Some terrible design ideas though: the cheesy Collectables logo, HUGE ADS taking up whole pages in the cd booklets, and the 'Collectables Jazz Classics' tag line pasted everywhere over the original art, making them look like those bargain collections you find at truckstops or drugstores. But it's all about the music right....
Originally released in 1969, this finds Kirk in a very soulful mood. The jazz here is only an afterthought, with these funk/soul/gospel numbers heavy on the horns, the testifying and the party/dance vibe!! Covers of '"I Say a Little Prayer" (a Kirk staple) and an awesome version of Stevie Wonder's "My Cherie Amour" complete with Kirk's over the top Biz Markie style vocals!! The second half was recorded live at the Newport Jazz Festival and features some smoking versions of "One Ton", "Three For The Festival", and a Coltrane melody, all interspersed with Kirk's insanely inspired introductions and some of the wildest, most intense flute playing EVER!
It seems like time for a rant again. Don't worry, I'll make it short. Roland Kirk is God! Or at least as much a god as Mingus, Sun Ra, Davis or Coltrane. So here's your chance to see what you've been missing. And what the majority of jazz fans can't get their narrow heads around: soulful, jazzy, funky, groovy, funny, soul shaking, gut busting, tear jerking brilliance from this musical genius. Master of every instrument he picked up (as well as a handful he invented!), able to play three horns at once (not as a gimmick, as a way to play three melodies), blind since birth and later suffering paralysis from a stroke, wandering around NYC with a huge wheeled staff with various horns duct-taped to it as well as a portable tape recorder that he used to record the sounds of the world and would sometime incorporate into live performances, a brilliant and funny orater, telling jokes and stories, ranting and testifying, preaching and proclaiming, and once even handing out cocaine to folks in the crowd. This man was remarkable. Musically, socially, personally. Unclear why he tends to get overlooked, and underappreciated by the majority of jazz fans. Too weird I guess. But I know that won't bother you (speaking here to YOU, the erudite AQ list subscriber) !!!
So it's always a happy day, when some new Kirk gem is unearthed, or some classic Kirk record gets the re-release/remaster treatment. So kudos to Collectables for reissuing 7 essential and timeless Kirk masterpieces. Some terrible design ideas though: the cheesy Collectables logo, HUGE ADS taking up whole pages in the cd booklets, and the 'Collectables Jazz Classics' tag line pasted everywhere over the original art, making them look like those bargain collections you find at truckstops or drugstores. But it's all about the music right....
Again, Kirk opens proceedings on 1970's Rahsaan Rahsaan with a rant to end all rants, delivered in quite a state, and backed up by clattery percussion and gloomy droning chords. A few minutes into it though, the band kicks in and were back on more familiar bop territory, although as with a lot of Kirk's work, it's dark and dangerous and tinged with an ominous vibe, mysterious and unsettling. Kirk takes great pains in a two minute introduction to explain his two horn technique and how he gets his mind to think two different things. He then proceeds to play Sentimental Journey on one horn and Dvorak's Going Home on the other. AT THE SAME TIME. 4 minutes of impossible brainsplitting, ultra complex, totally impossible horn playing. Mindblowing. The record finishes off with more classic Kirk bop and another really funny introduction that as always, keeps the audience in stitches.
Another unbelievable document of Kirk's total mastery of his instruments, his impeccable songwriting, and another bit of evidence for my case against all the fucking jazz heads who haven't given Kirk his due. I mean I love Mingus and everything, but how many more movies and books do we need about him, or Sun Ra for that matter, before someone takes on one of the greatest, and most unique horn players in jazz, as well as one of Jazz's craziest characters. Yet another beautiful Verve reissue, nicely packaged, great sounding, and heavy on the flute!!
Everyone here knows what a big Roland Kirk freak I (Andee) am so every reissue or previously unreleased track makes me way too excited. So you can imagine how I feel about this one. A reissue (originally released on an lp in 1956 that went practically unnoticed) of the very first Kirk recordings from when he was only 20 years old. Although these recordings are considerably less
Remastered, from 1964.
Finally reissued on vinyl, one of our favorite records, by quite possibly our favorite jazzman ever, Roland Kirk. The Inflated Tear was Kirk's first studio record for Atlantic (before he became Rahsaan), and it's a gorgeous classic jazz record. We've raved endlessly about Kirk elsewhere on his site, known by many primarily for his wild antics and far out behavior, playing multiple horns at once, playing the nose flute, wheeling around a huge wheeled wooden cane, pulling out a tape recorder and playing random recordings into the mic during concerts, passing out cocaine to the crowd, we could go on and on, and we won't lie, his character, and his larger than life persona definitely has a lot to do with why we fell in love with him, but the downside is that folks often forget he's an incredible player, and fantastic composer, all of which is evident here. Totally classic classic jazz, with Kirk handling saxophone and flute, the flute tracks in particular are incredible, fluid and fluttery, the rest of the tracks slipping from slow and brooding and moody and contemplative, to wild and frenzied an almost free, but it's the title track that makes this so essential. Supposedly written when he was on acid, it's the perfect mix of classic jazz, and his more avant side, beginning with a soft cacophony of noisemakers, chimes and rattles, and bells, and then the main horn refrain, is so haunting, a strange otherworldly harmony, you sort of have to hear it (sample below), totally moving and unlike any jazz we've heard, still gives us goosebumps, and then after this strange moaning minor key call, the band slip into straight up, soft cocktail jazz, only to return to that refrain, this time underscored by some seriously ominous piano rumbles, slightly altered, the horns slipping into something more rhythmic, until finally, the band break out into a dark, freak out, all low piano pound, and Kirk howling and ranting, only to finish how it started with bells and chimes. So amazing. The whole record. One of THEE most essential jazz albums for sure. On vinyl. Again.
Rare groove classic which on vinyl fetches upwards of $500, lovingly reissued on disc and LP by the fine folks at Ubiquity Records. Sweet soul music. Recommended.
"Organic free metal from Malaysia" is what we had heard about Klangmutationen. Wow, really? Utech doesn't provide much information at all about this band, other than to describe them as a "mystery" (how helpful), and compare their music to the work of outside '70s free improv artists from Europe (the FMP label) and Japan (Masayuki Takayangi, Kaoru Abe). We're also told that this mysterious group hails from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Do we believe it? Maybe. We'd like to.
Certainly their music has a dark, strange vibe - literally, vibrations - cycles of low-end droning, sounding like giant metal springs being vibrated... or more likely, electric guitars, detuned. Strings/springs flapping loosely, arcing with electricity. Weird and atmospheric. Like Harry Bertoia meets Caspar Brotzmann!?
That's the first track (2:19) and part of the second into which it flows (25:05). But before long, the lengthy track two develops a serious case of screaming, saxophone/flute/clarinet skree, definitely giving some skronked-out substance to those free jazz comparisons. It's pretty intense and extreme, right on for those into Rudolph Grey's Blue Humans, John Zorn's Painkiller, Peter Brotzmann, Charles Gayle, Arthur Doyle, Albert Ayler, cats like that... yet it's definitely not, y'know, jazz. More like "jazz" for fans of SUNNO))) and Aufgehoben... or drone music for fans of Borbetomagus. Dense and distorted, this is the sound of plunging into the abyss, with a witches' chorus of reed-squealing cacophony as company.
The third track, clocking in at 19:42, is almost as much of a juggernaut. More whale-call feedback guitar grind, murk and moodiness. And then this disc comes to a close with the brief (1:58), relatively quiet caresses of fourth, final track. An eerie, wispy coda that could be the soundtrack music heard as a landing party from TV's Star Trek beams down to some strange, oddly lit world... and they should be glad they don't have to face whatever alien threats the album's earlier tracks would provide cues for!
Curious stuff, this Klangmutationen. Heavy too. We're enjoying repeat spins of this disc, and also should mention we have another release of theirs, yet to be reviewed - an LP on the Holy Mountain label (which affiliation in itself is a recommendation).
Fans of the late great Japanese free improv guitar master Masayuki Takayanagi take note of this release. Guitarist Kondo and his group pay tribute with a version of Takayangi's gorgeous, gradually projected "Herdsman's Pipe Of Spain". And the rest of this is quite in keeping with the spirit of Takayangi's pioneering New Directions Unit. And while therefore pretty "out" sounding, it's also quite a bit different from some of the more extreme offerings we've heard from Kondo's other band, the electronics n' computers plus free jazz noisemaking ensemble Exias-J, known for their droning and distorted Borbetomagus-like jams. Here things are often calmer and more, dare we say, melodic. Though this is still pretty darn avant-garde. It opens with a solo guitar piece, finding Kondo playing a "ten-string gut guitar", which is an impressively large, plank-like instrument. Later on, he's accompanied by a group featuring flute, percussion and contrabass.
And this is called Structures for a reason. Even though there's a large improvisational element to Kondo's music (with certain tracks designated as such) he's really into experimenting with improvisations within particularly strict and unusual theoretical structures. Or at least that's the idea we get from what we've read about it, and certainly the very meticulous music here, full of moody pink-plonk, rumble-fumble, and scritch-scrape, seems like it could creatively stem from such complex, intellectualized musical methodologies...
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Anybody remember a Japanese hiphop artist named Shingo2? He was pretty rad, kind of in the DJ Shadow style. Shingo was based here in SF for a little while, that's how we encountered him, and probably how we ended up with these - we just discovered we had a bunch of copies of this cd-r, from 2005, documenting a live show by an instrumental, improvising band he was in called Kosmic Renaissance, which featured Shingo on mixer/sampler/synths (Vestax Faderboard, ARP Odyssey). The others in the KR trio were Sameer Gupta on drums & tabla, and David Boyce on saxophones, Microkorg, etc. It's pretty groovy, spaced-out stuff, heavy on the electronics and FX...
After a brief intro, they launch into the 25+ minute "Enter The Octagon" and get seriously deep and funky and out there - this is all improvised. "IO" and "Songs For Our Ancestors" follow in similarly sprawling, jammed out fashion. "IO" is nice and mellow, "Song For Our Ancestors" starts that way, then gets more intense, with some jittery digitally glitched-out Japanese vocal samples (?) towards the end. Pretty cool, spacey fusion improv with an Eastern inflection, presumably influenced by stuff like '70s Miles.
Eccentric quirky jazz from France. Trumpet, saxaphone and modulationg vocalizing augment the traditional trio head for Uz Jsme Doma territory. Label mates include Hoppy Kamiyama, Ruins and Alboth!
Circle's Jussi Lehtisalo recommended this to us: another Finnish band that operates in the in-between realm of rock, improv, jazz, and prog. Kroko are an all-instrumental basso/perkussio/kitara trio featuring the guitarist from Bad Vugum recording artists Deep
Second album of extreme electric guitar and drums improv action from the duo of Munehiro Narita and Shoji Hano, this time under the name Kyoaku No Intention (Worst Intention) which was the title of their previous PSF release (as well as the name of an early '80s project led by Narita prior to his formation of the Tokyo psych rock legends High Rise). The original Kyoaku No Intention left behind no available recorded traces, so we can't say how closely it forshadowed the sounds heard on Astral Projection. But with Narita's distorted, screaming guitar and Hano's tumbling drums, this disc can't be any less "out" than what Narita got up to 20 years ago. Shoji Hano is primarily a free-jazz drummer, though he's experienced in various psychedelic rock combos (Mainliner for one). Meanwhile, Munehiro Narita is of course the sort of underground Japanese guitar god that Hano is used to playing with (previous sparring partners include Keiji Haino and Kawabata Makoto). So you can expect serious speedfreak Hendrix psych-spurts alongside more moody, almost jazzy clatter over the three long, live tracks that writhe and burn on this disc. Lovers of way out, free-to-be-skree electric guitar mangling and drum wrangling will want to stick this in their ears right quick!
Nels Cline is the man. He's not only a super-nice guy, but of course also a brilliant avant-garde guitarist, equally at home with ECM jazz as Sonic Youth noiserock. L. Stinkbug is the (odd) name of his band with fellow LA guitar maestro G.E. Stinson, bassist
Recorded live at Bruno's, just around the corner from us here at Aquarius. Can't imagine the usual yuppie Bruno's crowd would have liked this one bit!
Excellent sampler of the limited and prohibitively priced Los Angeles Free Music Society box set. From noise to spoken word rants to sappy jazz to avant garde audio fuckery.
Recorded live in Buenos Aires in 1966, 'The Forest And The Zoo' is one of the first records Steve Lacy made after permanently relocating to Italy. Lacy who was considered the first 'modern' musician to specialise in the soprano sax, played with Cecil
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WOW. And do we mean WOW!! Fifteen classic free jazz records from the late sixties / early seventies, long out of print, finally getting the ULTRA deluxe reissue treatment. Incredibly limited, these will probably be out of print before you know it.
Comes in a gorgeous diecut fullcover three panel sleeve, with new artwork, as well as a huge booklet with the original album sleeve notes, new liner notes in french and english as well as a bunch of cool photos. So nice!
Another excellent reissue from local label Water. This time from Byard Lancaster, who somehow I had never heard of, even though HE PLAYS THE FLUTE, and he would go on to play with Roland Kirk (my favorite!), as well as Sun Ra, McCoy Tyner, Sunny Murray and loads more. Originally released in 1968, and produced by long time Roland Kirk sidekick/confidante/producer Joel Dorn, It's Not Up To Us finds Lancaster hooking up with legendary guitarist Sonny Sharrock and original Weather Report drummer Eric Gravatt. And while this IS jazz, it's pretty wild and all over the place, mixing in psychedelic rock, dirge-y rhythmic drones, abstract free skronk and rollicking fuzzy funk. The sound is surprisingly contemporary though. In fact everytime we play this in the store people come up to ask what it is, and are surprised to find out it's over 30 years old. And of course, there's wailing flute ALL OVER! This may just be a contender to enter the pantheon of my all time favorite flute records, of which there are an elite few!! So check it out.
A while back, someone made us a really excellent mix tape of jazz. And there were a couple songs by a cat called Byard Lancaster that just knocked us for a loop! He was playing flute and just destroying. A total wildman, singing and shouting, and humming, almost scatting through the flute, spitting out multiple melody lines, sputtering maniacally, but somehow making it sound as natural as whipping out a staid version of Coltrane's "My Favorite Things". So we were a bit obsessed, and it proved pretty dang difficult to track down any proper releases from Lancaster, outside of crazy pricey imports.
Then word came down from Porter Records, a new label started by aQ pal Luke Mosling, who in the first few months of existence, have released more records than most labels put out in a year, about a deal brewing between Porter and Mr. Byard Lancaster that since has been solidified. Which means that over the next little while, Porter will start re-releasing essential Lancaster discs, as well as digging up rarities and lost sets and making them available for the first time.
Such is the case with this here gem, a set recorded at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1971 (a magical year for music, as we've noted in about a million other reviews!). Those three tracks clock in at nearly 21 minutes, at start out all dreamy and moody, piano and flute, ominous and haunting, but that soon gives way to an amazing drum solo, nearly two minutes, skittery and in its own way weirdly catchy, until the band joins in and they're off, that track is super abstract and skronky, very free, but with a definite dark melody running through it, while the 10+ minute track that makes up the bulk of the Macalester set is bouncy and energetic, wild and while less free, still free enough. Each player shines, some serious bop that gives way to some more dark moodiness. Gorgeous gorgeous stuff.
And if that weren't enough there are three loooong bonus tracks. The opener "1324", is 16 minutes of gorgeous free jazz bliss, Lancaster wailing away, the bass and drums slippery and serpentine, Lancaster's horn slipping from classic jazz to Eastern melodies and back again, and fear not, there's a drum solo here too!
The two bonus tracks tacked on the end were recorded in 1973 by the J.R. Mitchel Experimental Unit featuring Lancaster on sax, and features some seriously psychedelic jazz, skronky and free, but with lots of drones and exotic percussion, some tripped out effects and some seriously dense compositions. Awesome and expansive far out freedom for sure! Can't wait for the rest of those lost and impossible to find Lancaster discs to materialize, but this one will hold us over just fine.
Like the rest of the Porter releases so far, nicely packaged with a huge booklet, extensive liner notes, extra notes from Lancaster himself, band and musician histories and a bunch of cool photos.
Byard Lancaster was a revelation. An aQ customer turned us on to him, as a flute player, it might have even been Porter Records head honcho Luke Mosling, which would make perfect sense, regardless, the music of Byard Lancaster blew our minds. We're (not so) mildly obsessed with flute music, especially jazz, so hearing Lancaster completely own the flute, pulling off Roland Kirk style sing/shouting through the instrument and then smoothly slipping into so soft fluttering groove, we were immediately obsessed. And even more blown away to discover it wasn't just the flute Lancaster had mastered. Piccolo, clarinet, sax, piano. We knew we had to hear more. The bad news being that most of Lancaster's recording were impossible to find. Which is why we were so excited when Mosling started up Porter, specifically with an eye to re-release all the lost Lancaster titles. So here's the first one, Personal Testimony, a collection of solo recordings originally released in 1979, and so amazing. From the soulful piano groove of the opener, with softly crooned vocals and dark swirling melodies, to the ethereal drifting fluttering flute of "In Lovingkindness", the melodies moody and mystic, multiple fluted interwoven and gloriously and complexly entangled, to the wild funky soulful flute jam that is "Dogtown", you can almost imagine the bad kicking in behind him, as he whips up impossible clusters and flurries of notes, occasionally offering up James Brown style grunts between breaths, to the deeeeeep droney low end moan of the big horns in "Brotherman", the tones reverberating and rumbling gloriously. There are a handful of sax tracks too, some skronky and FREE, others smooth and jazzy, some all tangled up with other overdubbed horns, all of them amazing. Some of the most intense and beautiful solo recordings we've heard for sure.
This reissue has six new tracks tacked on as bonus material, recorded last year, a sort of 'now' to the first half's 'then'. Not so into the a capella opener, maybe a little too soulful scat, but soon we're back into some serious flute territory, laced with hand drums and shakers, various vocalizations, and some wild playing. Three tracks worth of kick ass, wild and free, fluttery and free flute action, that sounds almost as good as the first half. The second to last track is solo piano, dark and moody, some gorgeous flurries of notes, dense clouds of thick chords, wild free explosions of sound, eventually building to a super chaotic wild piano freak out, pounding, with all the pedals down, before drifting back into more tranquil territory. The final track is hymn like, soft fluttery flute, delicate piano, and crooned vocals, lilting and melancholy, and quite lovely.
An awesome and essential reissue, well worth it for just the '79 release alone, but the bonus tracks make it just that much sweeter. Lots of liner notes, past and present, as well as a bad ass photo of Lancaster shirtless, in tight white pants, wailing on the sax!
Madlib is one prolific producer, one of our favorites actually, but there is something refreshing to hear his fine production techniques with a live jazz ensemble. Miles Away plays special tribute to all the cosmic jazz and groove we love from artists in the sixties and seventies, from John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, The Tribe's Phil Ranelin, Fred Walker, Roy Ayers, Larry Young, Woody Shaw, and Harry Whitaker amongst others. Basically, all of the cats who have inspired hip-hop over the last few decades. Lots of tribal percussion, piano, vibes and flutes in airy compositions that are as contemplative as they are grooving. Beautiful! Nicely packaged in a miniature lp style sleeve, too.
Brotzmann, Sharrock, Jackson and Laswell kick out the jams in Koln!
